March chitchat

[agate]

Is March coming in like a lion for you? Then it will go out like a lamb, right? And if it comes in like a lamb, will it go out like a lion? I hope not because around here it's been perfectly beautiful--some sunny days, usually near 50' or even above.

People elsewhere in this country have been hit hard by snowstorms and power outages. I don't know how they get along when there are power outages lasting for days. What do they do for heat? Some have fireplaces but many don't.

For a few days recently I couldn't get here because I got a message saying "This connection isn't secure" or some such statement. I don't know if others got this message too but I didn't want to chance it. Then magically it cleared itself up. I did go to the BrainTalk Facebook page and posted about it but I don't know if anyone saw it.

So what is going on in your life? If you don't want to keep on reading just about my shower chair adventures, dear readers, you'll need to provide some content of your own. Surely your life is more interesting than mine--what's the harm in sharing a few details about what you've been doing?

If you have pets, how are they doing? Have you been to any new places recently? Seen any unusual birds or other critters? Watched any movies? Read any books? Joined any groups? Entertained any visitors?

I've been "entertaining" two different types of therapists lately--an occupational therapist and a physical therapist. About once a week for each. Sometimes the physical therapy sessions are a bit painful but some muscles have to be stretched so that maybe I'll be able to bend over again or get in and out of the shower/bathtub more easily.

It's been only a short time since I started the new exercises but it's already having an effect. It's easier to raise my right leg.

I'm very happy about this. I hope others will have some good news too. Even if your news is discouraging, this is a place where you can express yourself about it. The space is here for everyone who wants to say something.

Spring must be on its way. Enjoy those robins and those daffodils!

[Prot]

Agate,I got the same message. I didn't even know that Braintalk had a FB page. I'm worried about my balance. It's never been great, but seems to have got even worse recently. I don't think it helps that I've not been sleeping great recently.

I've spent a lot of time on genealogy this week . Haven't made as much progress as I'd like,but some progress is better than none at all. Emailed a 2nd cousin to ask if he'd do a DNA test,that I would pay for. If he agrees I'll be pleasantly surprised. I have no recollection of my father ever talking about his Gatty relatives. Though he was a FB friend of one of his Gatty cousins.

A question for you both. Do you like Tom Lehrer? . Another question. If you could only eat 5 main meals, what would you choose? Mine would be 1. Lamb stew like my wife used to make. 2. Shepherd's pie like my mother used to make. 3. Fish casserole like my mother used to make. 4. The boiled bacon,Pease pudding, mash with swede and a veg oxo mixed into it, and onion sauce, that my wife used to make. 5 egg and chips.

[agate]

I've been a Tom Lehrer fan for years--since my teens--though I can't say I kept up with his performances over the years. I should have but didn't.

If you're on Facebook, this might get you to the BrainTalk page. Maybe even if you're not on Facebook--I'm not sure. It's possible to post there about a problem when this site isn't working right. The admins will reply or deal with the problem.

Only registered and activated users can see links., Click Here To Register...

As for the question about the 5 main meals, I'm thinking about it carefully but must wait until I have more time. The first of the month can be a busy time for me, and just now I've been dealing with a few other issues too, like assembling a shower bench and having problems with a shoe-stretching gadget I've acquired, and then there's my grandson's upcoming 8th birthday. I'm also adjusting to a very revised exercise routine, with more exercises added on. I'm hoping things will calm down soon.

[Prot]

This morning I 'made' some Bolognese sauce. Enough for 3 meals. It was a fry some mince and mix in some stir in sauce 'made'.

It all went disastrously wrong for me 5 days after a wonderful 8th birthday. That's when I started 10 years of personal hell at boarding school.

[agate]

Tales of boarding schools there have spread across the pond. Going back to George Orwell if I recall. So sorry you had those terrible years but that's a lame thing to say. A ruined childhood can't ever be fixed.

[Prot]

I'm 90% sure that my father's refusal to switch from the Foreign to the Home office,so I didn't have to go to boarding school, was what soured my parent's marriage. Eventually leading to them divorcing. To be accurate, I think being an undiagnosed autistic child and teenager would've resulted in being bullied wherever I went to school.

[agate]

But isn't bullying much easier in the boarding schools? My impression is that there's a structure built into the situation that makes that possible, even expected?

It's been a while since I read anything or watched any movies dealing with the UK's boarding schools but isn't here often an arrangement where the more senior boys get to harass the younger ones, often quite cruelly?

[Prot]

Here’s a clear, historically grounded explanation of fagging in British public schools, drawing directly on authoritative sources.

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What Fagging Was


Fagging was a long‑standing system in British public (i.e., elite private) schools in which younger boys were required to act as personal servants to older boys. It emerged in the late 17th century and persisted—gradually softened—into the late 20th century.

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Core Features of the System

Hierarchical Servitude

• Younger pupils (“fags”) performed domestic or menial tasks for senior boys.
• Tasks included preparing breakfast, cleaning rooms, running errands, and maintaining fires.
• The system was formally sanctioned: Thomas Arnold of Rugby described it as authority delegated to the Sixth Form over juniors.

Discipline & Social Order

• In early boarding schools, masters had limited control outside the classroom.
• Fagging created an internal hierarchy that maintained order and reinforced school values.
• Historians note it was central to how public schools trained future leaders and instilled obedience, loyalty, and deference.

Abuse & Controversy

• Although sometimes framed as character‑building, fagging often involved physical abuse and, in some cases, sexual exploitation.
• Accounts from the 19th century describe a culture where homoerotic relationships, flogging, and fagging coexisted within an all‑male adolescent environment.

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️ Historical Evolution

17th–18th Centuries

• Early references show a rigid, servant‑like system.
• Tasks were often heavy and time‑consuming.

19th Century

• The Victorian era saw both criticism and defence of fagging.
• Some headmasters (e.g., at Rugby) tried to regulate it rather than abolish it.
• Public scrutiny grew as stories of brutality circulated.

20th Century

• The system softened: tasks became lighter, and overt bullying was increasingly condemned.
• By the late 20th century, most schools abolished fagging entirely.

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Cultural Significance


Fagging wasn’t just a quirky tradition—it shaped the ethos of elite British education:

• Reinforced class‑like hierarchies within schools
• Socialised boys into roles of command and obedience
• Created intense peer‑bonding environments
• Influenced the leadership style of generations of British elites (as noted by historians)

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In Summary


Fagging was a structured, school‑sanctioned system of junior servitude to senior pupils in British public schools. It played a major role in maintaining discipline and shaping school culture but was also associated with physical and sexual abuse. Over centuries it evolved from harsh servitude to a milder form of school tradition before disappearing altogether.

If you’d like, I can also:

• Compare fagging across specific schools (Eton, Rugby, Harrow)
• Trace how it intersected with Catholic vs. Anglican school cultures
• Map how fagging appears in memoirs, literature, and historical records

[agate]

Yes, that is the system--I'd forgotten the name for it. The tasks expected of the younger boys must have kept them mighty busy just doing services for the senior boys. Getting their breakfast, maintaining their fires, cleaning their rooms--a boy could gradually move out of this arrangement as he got older, right? But even any time at all spent doing such chores--and for someone you probably didn't even know or like--that's a brutal system.

[Prot]

By the time I went to Felsted public school there was fagging still,but not making breakfasts and maintaining fires. The bullying started within days of going there.My local vicar wrote to my housemaster about it. My housemaster's response? 'Bullying occurs less than it used to, but some boys are the type to invite being bullied'.

[agate]

Odd coincidence that I recently started reading (listening to) a biography of musician Nick Drake, who went through the prep school/public school arrangement, and apparently he experienced no bullying and even liked the experience. So there must have been an improvement in recent decades, or maybe there have always been exceptional schools. There was still the hierarchical structure--he became a "head boy."

[Prot]

He was nearly 9 years older than me, and obviously better suited to being at public school than I was. Sporting ability is/was highly regarded at public school. His sporting ability was much,much, better than mine.

[agate]

You knew about him? I didn't know how well known he was. Yes, he was apparently one of those all-around charmers who probably always succeed in any school. I haven't finished the biography yet (and it may be a while before I do), but now that I've reached the point where he just barely squeaks into Cambridge, he's looking more and more like a child of the privileged class who is getting away with quite a lot of behavior verging on destructive--and one starts to wonder if being born into privilege isn't often a curse.

Yes, the book makes clear that excelling at sports helped him right down the line. That was true at my urban public high school in Chicago too. Girls and boys both were far more respected if they had made some team or other. The rest of us were nobodies.

[Prot]

I think he was 3rd/4tth generation boarding school educated. I was 1st generation. Both my parents were very intelligent, and far from being privileged. They both chose,for differing reasons, to not go to university. Boys like my brother and I,were regarded as just there to boost the finances by our prep school headmasters. We had less favourable treatment than 'Nick Drake type' pupils.

[agate]

Nick Drake's family seems to have had no problem sending him off to France and elsewhere. This must have been costly but I don't think money was a worry.

Odd how we have a similar class-consciousness in the US but it's more "hidden." We pretend it isn't there. But it is. It shows up in the form of deep resentment on the part of those who did not have a chance at college. Some carry that resentment through their lives.